


Welcome Home

by notnowcommander



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Fluff, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-28 23:38:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3874195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notnowcommander/pseuds/notnowcommander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jenna Shepard and Kaidan have just moved to Vancouver, the place they're going to call home for good now that the war is over. However, he has one more surprise up his sleeve for the woman he loves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome Home

“You know, you’re uncreative when it comes to eating out,” Jenna Shepard teased, taking Kaidan by the arm and pulling him toward the edge of the balcony on the restaurant they’d eaten at that night. It was beautiful, just several blocks down from their new home, which incidentally was just a several minute walk down the beach to the Alenko’s house. 

Kaidan raised a finger and shook it at her. “If you’re going to make fun of me for getting steak every time we eat out, I just…”

“You just what?” she teased, grabbing him by the wrists and twirling him around. She wore a flowing green dress, simple and fitting, and a pair of sandals; such a far cry from the armor and uniform she was used to wearing. Years kept behind a chest plate, greaves, and gauntlets made wearing dresses and civilian clothes feel like trying to get her sea legs. 

“I don’t know,” he said, placing his hands on her waist. “I lost track of what I was going to say. I was too busy thinking about how beautiful you are.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and smirked. “Uh huh.”

She turned and looked out over the balcony they stood on. It was just them, and she’d seen Kaidan slide the maître d' a few credits as they walked outside. He was up to something. However, it wasn’t unlike Kaidan to go out of his way to try and do sweet things for her. And besides, it was their first night in their new home. Kaidan had called Vancouver home since he was a little boy, but now it was their home. It was the first time in years Shepard had been able to call home anything other than a ship or a jail cell. And while she was used to it, she was glad to have Kaidan by her side for it.

The lights from the city shined onto the water in front of them and the moon hovered above the Pacific Ocean. It gave the two of them just enough light to see one another. Kaidan stepped behind her, resting his hands against her waist and kissing the side of her neck. He slid strands of her red hair out of the way of her neck and kissed along her freckled shoulders.

“Welcome home, Jenna,” he whispered against her skin.

“And welcome back, Kaidan. This is beautiful, you know.”

He nodded. “I know. And so are you.”

She laughed under her breath. “You’re such a damn tease, but you’re lucky you’re cute.”

Kaidan let go of her, standing next to her instead and pressing a hand on top of hers on the railing. She looked over where their skin made contact and smiled. She couldn’t have imagined ever being this happy with anyone. After losing her family, after asserting herself as one of the strongest forces of nature the galaxy had ever seen, sometimes she still couldn’t believe that Kaidan doing something as simple as resting a hand on hers, or kissing her on the cheek make her heart race to the degree that it did.

“Jenna…” he said, his voice soft and almost… nervous? She was picking up that his hands started shaking a little bit, and so she moved closer.

“What’s wrong?”

He laughed under his breath and shook his head, turning to her. “Nothing. Really. Just… ugh, come here.”

He took her in his arms, pressing her body against his chest. He drew a hand to her jaw and guided her into a kiss, soft and simple. She kissed him back, her fingers gently knotting in the greying waves at the base of his neck. She pulled away slowly, their noses still touching. Quickly, he pressed his lips to the tip of her nose and smiled. 

“You know that I love you, right? More than anything in this world.”

She nodded. “I do know that. And you know I love you too.”

He stepped away, but kept her hand wrapped in his. He stroked the back of her palm with his thumb, rough from him biting his nails nearly constantly. She liked his hands, how they just fit him. And he always knew what to do with them. If they were in battle, it was him throwing out cryo blast after reave, programming an overload the next second. It was one of the first things she loved about them, their similar class. And once he’d been promoted to Spectre, they were the “Sentinel Spectre Squad”, which he definitely hated.

“You know what I thought the first time I saw you on the Normandy?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes. “This girl can kick my ass?”

He laughed. “Well, after that. I thought you were the most stunning thing I’d ever seen in the entire world. And then I got to know you, and I had never felt so shallow. Because as gorgeous as you are, it’s who you are that just makes me feel like I’m the luckiest man in the entire world. Because someone like you can be so in love with someone like me. You’re a force to be reckoned with and nobody stands in your way, and god, tougher than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. And yet, when it comes down to it, I’m the one you hold at night and the one you choose over and over again.”

“And I always will,” she assured him. “It’s you and me for life, Kaidan. You know that.”

He faintly smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I do. And I want you with me until the end, Shepard. I have never, ever loved somebody the way that I love you. You mean so much to everyone in the entire galaxy, the reason we’re all here. But then I look at you, and I think that you’re so much more than that to me. You’re the reason I’ve never given up hope, and through everything. Cerberus, Horizon, Mars… all the times we nearly lost one another, we always find our way back, Shepard. We always do. Which is why I’ve got a question for you.”

She smiled, in a way, knowing what was coming. He slowly bent down on one knee, easing himself down holding on the railing. She laughed, toying with his grey hair. “Hard to bend the joints, old man?”

“Shepard! Stop that!” he laughed back.

He reached behind him, pulling out a small leather case, which he popped open. Shepard was expecting an adorable proposal from him, ever since they reunited years ago. But this? She wasn’t expecting this.

Immediately, she flashed back years, to the weeks where they were at somewhat peace after defeating Saren, to a calm night on the Citadel, where they strolled past an antique shop with several pieces of jewelry in the window. Shepard had glued her eyes on a ring, a diamond encrusted, slightly warm gold ring, with the center diamond cut into a soft square. 

“Shepard, what are you looking at?” Kaidan asked, placing a hand on her waist.

“That ring,” she said, “It’s just like one my grandmother had. She always told me she’d give it to the man I wanted to marry because I liked it so much, but… well…”

He kissed the side of her neck and sighed. “Shepard, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. It is. It’s just really nice to see things that remind you of people you love.”

And now, years later, she was looking at the ring again. And she was absolutely positive that it was the same one. Her mouth fell open and she let out a surprised gasp.

“Kaidan, is that?”

He blushed. “Yeah. That night on the Citadel, after you said you liked it. I went out the next morning and bought it because well… because I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. Even if we’d only known each other for a short time. Nobody was going to have my heart the way you do. And all these years later, through everything, I know that I can’t see myself being with anyone else. Jenna, I love you more than words. Will you marry me?”

She broke into a huge, probably obnoxious smile, and grabbed him from the ground, crushing her lips against his. He held onto the box and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back. His free hand cradled the back of her head and he parted his lips, going in for another kiss.

“So, is that a yes?” he asked.

“You bet your nice biotic ass it’s a yes,” she giggled, kissing him again. He took her hand, and slid the ring out of the box, and placed it on her ring finger. She had to say, it looked absolutely perfect on her. “I would love to marry you.”

He didn’t want to let her go, still keeping her as close to him as can be. He placed a kiss on her forehead and gave her a squeeze. She rested her head against his shoulder and stayed resting there for a few moments; unable to even fathom that she could feel this safe and loved. It made all the bullets she dodged and all the reporters she fought, and councilors she sassed so worth it. Just for this moment.

“Hey, Kaidan?” she said. “Can I tell you a secret?”

He nodded. “Mm, yes, of course.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to make me Mrs. Alenko for quite some time now.”

He squeezed her tighter. “And I’ve been wanting to be Mr. Shepard for a very long time too.”

“Good things come to those who wait, huh?”

He kissed the side of her head. “Yeah, yeah they do, love.”


End file.
